From www.nytimes.com
Editorial
Help for 11 Million Children
Congress is moving rapidly to rectify the Bush administration’s shameful refusal to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or S-chip, to cover substantially more low- and middle-income children. That is especially important now when so many workers are losing their jobs and health benefits.
A changed political environment has finally made enlargement of this joint federal-state program possible. In 2007, Congress attempted unsuccessfully to expand the insurance program only to have its efforts stymied by two vetoes by then-President George Bush. But now there are more Democrats in Congress, and President Obama has enthusiastically endorsed the legislation.
Bills that have passed the House and the Senate would continue coverage for an estimated seven million children already enrolled in health insurance program and extend coverage to another four million children who are currently uninsured. (The House is expected to approve the Senate’s version next week and send it to the president for his signature.)
The primary target would remain what it has always been — children from working-poor families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but not high enough to afford private health insurance. That typically means families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or $44,000 for a family of four.
However, many states also enroll children with family incomes above that level, an especially important feature where medical and insurance costs are high. The pending bills would cover children up to 300 percent of poverty and allow states to seek waivers to go even higher, albeit at a reduced federal matching rate. The bills would cost the federal government about $32 billion in new money over four and a half years, primarily paid for by an increase in tobacco taxes.
Many Republicans object to expanding the program to children from higher-income families. They also are critical of a provision that allows states to eliminate a five-year waiting period for Medicaid and S-chip that is now imposed on immigrant children who are here legally. That provision makes good sense to us since the alternative might be forcing them to rely on costly emergency rooms.
President Bush opposed the expansion of S-chip as a dangerous step toward a government-run health care system. It’s hardly that.
It is a good step toward universal health coverage through a combination of public and private plans, as proposed by President Obama. And there is no question that it will help millions of uninsured children.